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Original poster

Would you respond to abusive email from hotel?

323 replies

digginforturnips · 13/07/2023 09:26

Stayed at a small guesthouse recently for two nights. The hotel had overbooked their cheapest rooms. They told us on arrival that we could either pay the £100 extra for an upgraded room, or they could cancel our reservation and find another hotel. There was no availability nearby. We were seriously unimpressed, but after a long journey had no real choice other than to say we’d pay. Owners actually seemed really nice other than that.

We checked out at 5am and did not pay the £100. Hotel has sent us 6 emails asking for the money, which I have ignored all of them. Then today I got a long and very angry email from them telling us how we are dishonest, untrustworthy, unhonourable people. They told us they would be leaving bad reviews of us, and they would be filing a complaint with the booking website.

What would you do? Would you email back? Contact the booking platform for advice?

OP posts:
Leftphalange100 · 13/07/2023 09:34

I think they are really CFs - they should have told you on arrival that they were sorry they had overbooked your room, but they had an upgraded room available and the upgrade would be free of charge. Cannot believe they are trying to charge you for their mistake!

I wouldn't respond to them. I would complain to the booking site. Imagine if they do that to loads of rooms a year just banking on the fact people will pay the extra so their not stuck?

Frankie412 · 13/07/2023 09:34

I would contact the booking platform and leave calm, unemotional factual reviews anywhere I could.

cstaff · 13/07/2023 09:36

They should have allowed you to stay in the upgrade for the same price as this was their mistake, not yours. Complete CFs.

orangegato · 13/07/2023 09:36

Screenshot that and let them, morons. They don’t have a leg to stand on. Their own greed or incompetence caused overbooking, they should have given you the better room for free with apologies. Also leave them a bad review, what are they on about leaving a bad review of you, to who???

Georgyporky · 13/07/2023 09:36

If it's booking.com I doubt they'll be interested !
But you might as well tell them your side of the story.

HeadacheEarthquake · 13/07/2023 09:39

I would contact trading standards

Phineyj · 13/07/2023 09:42

Contact trading standards and/or the local council for their location.

There is a word for this and it's extortion!

Twobyfour · 13/07/2023 09:44

You paid for the room as per your booking, they were the ones who did not provide that room and tried to extract further money from you.

You could leave a truthful review of them, to let future prospective guests be aware of their practice, and let the booking site know. If the guest house is in any “rosette”/tourist scheme then let them know too

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 13/07/2023 09:50

Who's to say the cheaper rooms were overbooked? Or even exist at all? They might do this to every person. Sounds like a complete racket.

mondaytosunday · 13/07/2023 10:06

While I agree they should have upgraded you without charge, did you actually agree to paying the extra? In that case you should have paid it, or made your position clear upon arrival. There must be something about verbally agreeing and then availing yourself of the service means you have accepted the new terms.
And you should have responded to the emails stating your position rather than ignoring them.

Anaemiafog · 13/07/2023 10:09

You did agree when you arrived though.

SirChenjins · 13/07/2023 10:14

You were left with no option but to agree to pay given that the alternative was to leave and try and find another room - which wasn’t possible as per your OP.

Sounds like they’re at it and probably do this quite often. They should have acknowledged their error and upgraded you for free, so if they want to go ahead and show themselves to be incompetent and potentially operating a scam then they can go right ahead and leave a negative review - I’d counter it with my own on the site and on Google Reviews etc, and would complain to Trading Standards.

LIZS · 13/07/2023 10:20

I think most hotels would upgrade foc. Must have been fairly expensive if £100 was the upgrade. Had you told them you planned an early check out or did you just leave? Do they belong to any trade association?

Balloonhearts · 13/07/2023 10:25

I'd screenshot the messages and post reviews on Trustpilot and the like, with the screenshot uploaded. Scammers is what they are.

Campervangirl · 13/07/2023 10:29

I'd leave them a factual review on Tripadvisor or the like, warning future guests to be aware.
I'd also add the shitty email they sent, it shows what sort of people they are.
They should have upgraded you for free as it was their mistake, absolute cheeky fuckery on their part.
I take my hat off to you, op, for leaving without paying the extra!

MadamWhiteleigh · 13/07/2023 10:30

I don’t see how they leave you a bad review - to who?! Hotels can’t review customers.

Do they have your credit card details? Presumably they can’t charge you anyway.

I’d block and move on.

MissAmbrosia · 13/07/2023 10:32

Bet they try this on all the time!

GadgetArms · 13/07/2023 10:40

Ideally you should have stood your ground at check in and insisted on a free upgrade. However this is not always easy especially if you've been travelling and are tired/fed up so I understand why you agreed to it.

Ignore it. Report them to the booking site and trading standards. They may have tried this on before. Keep the email as evidence, I doubt trading standards nor the booking site would be impressed with the language used.

If you do leave a review keep it factual and emotionless.

Unless they have your card details directly then I doubt they can do much about the money, they would need to take you to small claims (which I doubt they would).

LotsOfThingsToThinkAbout · 13/07/2023 10:41

Did you confirm in writing that you would pay the extra £100?

I think they were in the wrong but you were also in the wrong to have agreed to pay and then changed your mind. Did you originally intend to pay the extra?

LotsOfThingsToThinkAbout · 13/07/2023 10:42

Checking out at 5 am gives the impression you were doing a runner tbh

CC4712 · 13/07/2023 10:50

What platform was it on? Unless it was AirBNB- do guests actually get reviews???

They were CF's to expect you to pay extra, for THEIR error. From their perspective though- I'd think you had snuck out at 5am on purpose.

Smellslikesummer · 13/07/2023 10:53

To people saying OP agreed to pay the £100: you could also argue that the hotel agreed to provide a room for an agreed price, they didn’t do that either.
Realistically, she didn’t really have a choice if not agreeing meant being without a room.

Geekydeaky · 13/07/2023 10:55

We're on holiday abroad, when we arrived at the hotel the receptionist told us that we had booked a junior suite but all the junior suites are currently occupied and they had given us an upgrade. We're now in a grande suite which is huge and posh at no extra cost. The guest house is extremely wrong here and I would be fuming and refusing to pay it too!

Irequireausername · 13/07/2023 11:11

You really should review them everywhere that you can. I'd want to know this.

sashh · 13/07/2023 11:18

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 13/07/2023 09:50

Who's to say the cheaper rooms were overbooked? Or even exist at all? They might do this to every person. Sounds like a complete racket.

Exactly what I was thinking.